Now I hope you all remember Harry! If not he's the six foot Hen Harrier who has been on quite a journey so far. It was all started off by a small scarecrow competition in my village, however now Harry is raising lots and lots of awareness about the persecution of Hen Harriers at events like the Hen Harrier Day in the Peak District.
Now, the last time I saw Harry was at the Birdfair at Rutland Water where I handed him over into the care of the RSPB. However, a while ago I got an email from the RSPB saying that Harry was heading back North. He's back now, located at RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands and reminding people of the real danger of Hen Harriers going extinct in England.
Sightings of Harry so far - Moulton, Peak District, Rutland, Sandy, Leeds and Burton Mere.
Unfortunately on Monday I was at school, so wasn't allowed to travel over to Leeds and meet Andre Farrar who had Harry for us to collect and bring back to Burton Mere. Andre had some help from his son Jack when he was loading Harry up.
Jack Farrar and Harry
Harry "relaxing" in the van in Leeds
When my dad arrived at Burton Mere with Harry he was greeted by Dan Trotman (Visitor Development Officer of Burton Mere), who helped set Harry up in his new Winter roost position.
Harry and Dan
Hopefully by having Harry at quite a popular reserve it will make even more people think about how we all need to work together to protect Hen Harriers. Harry may be lucky to see other Hen Harriers flying across Burton Mere and up and down the estuary at Parkgate.
Already several of this year's satellite tagged juvenile fledged Hen Harriers have "disappeared" with no further information coming from their tags. England should support at least 300 or more Hen Harrier pairs, however only 4 pairs bred in England this year. What happened to all the others? Were they shot, poisoned, trapped?
The good news is that Harry is already attracting some attention These nice ladies were interested to know all about Harry and why he was at Burton Mere. Hopefully they will now talk to other people about saving our Hen Harriers.
I know that Harry will settle really well at Burton Mere because the area around the Dee estuary has a few roost sites for Hen Harriers. I will be going to see him again at the weekend. I've really missed him. If you go to see him, please post a Harry selfie on Twitter and use #HarrySelfie
So there you have it, Harry the Hen Harrier is back up and running trying to save his species. The war against nature by some of mankind isn't over, not by a long shot, however hopefully more and more people will try to do what they can to protect species like the Hen Harrier.
Harry at RSPB Burton Mere
Great post Findlay. I missed him by a couple of days. I was at Burton on Saturday.
ReplyDeleteIt's great to hear you will be reunited with Harry... he's doing a wonderful job.
ReplyDeleteI remember your earlier post. Thanks for your part in making Harry's good work possible!
ReplyDeleteGodd that Harry is back and I am sure he will tell the good message.
ReplyDeleteGood on Harry for spreading the word!
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff Findlay.
ReplyDeleteLike Adam, I just missed him too, I was there last Friday.
A return visit will be a must while I'm here in n. Wales.
Great to see him back up north, will look out for him when I am down there next
ReplyDeleteLol, Harry seems to be doing the reverse migration of most Hen Harriers
ReplyDelete"The war against nature by some of mankind isn't over, not by a long shot" - no pun intended eh Finn :-)
ReplyDelete"reminding people of the real danger of Hen Harriers going extinct in England" - going extinct should really read 'being driven to extinction...'
We will win
Cheers
DaveyMan
I just love this post, and have enjoyed seeing Harry in previous posts! I hope he creates lots of awareness to the preservation of his species. He's a wonderful ambassador for a great cause.
ReplyDeleteGoodness what did happen to the missing ones...so sad, but just keep trooping along and making people wiser and smarter. You are such a bright star along with those who have the same mindset. I am so proud of you!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful, fabulous, thing done here!! It's good to know of his safe return and hope he'll continue to spread the word and make the human population ever so aware!!
ReplyDelete